On Letting Go Inspired Illustration - Circa Survive

No 51.

This piece is for On Letting Go—the title track from Circa Survive’s sophomore album. A song that, on the surface, feels calm and restrained but builds to an amazing crescendo and ending. I was trying to create a piece that feels like the resolve at the end of the song, when its slowing, and ending…

For this visual, I leaned into that quiet, lingering weight. A pale, open hand reaches upward from a deep crimson pool as its last ditch effort to find safety, but ultimately gives up and begins its descent back below the surface.

There’s no rope. No lifeline. No other figures. Just the silent implication that someone was there… and now they’re fading.

This concept was directly inspired by the lyric:
“If blood is thicker than water, you’ll drown quicker than we intended.”
It’s a line I’ve always felt was quietly brutal. The idea that what connects us can also suffocate us. That love, family, and loyalty, things we’re taught to hold sacred, can also pull us under if we’re not careful. And sometimes, you don’t even realize you’re drowning until it’s too late.

Aesthetically, I kept things raw and stripped down. I used Retro Supply Co. texture brushes again to stay consistent with the look of the series—grainy, tactile, and a little decayed. The blood is thick and oversaturated against the neutral tones of the skin, making the contrast feel even more stark. This wasn’t meant to be gory. It’s meant to feel heavy.